Priority
by HobbitofRavenclaw
Summary: Ambrose has 2 secrets that can destroy the O.Z. He can only keep one. Part one of The Head Case Chronicles
1. Chapter 1

Priority

Ambrose has 2 secrets that can destroy the O.Z. He can only keep one

Dedicated to Midnight022 on Youtube, My collaborator and artistian muse (Electro-rebellion of diviantart)

I crouch by the fire and watch in melancholy satisfaction as the last few notes burn. I stir the charred paper in the grate.

Now there was no way for the Sorceress to get the plans for my sunseeder...

Until she headcased me.  
I run a hand fervently through my short curls. She would defiantly make me a headcase. I just hope I can stop her from getting the sunseeder.

In the last month or so, I had read as many books about headcases as I could find.

(One fellow even went out into the wilderness to find a few and get a first hand account on being a headcase Needless to say, he wasn't very successful.)

Several experts claim a headcase can hold onto one idea or memory beyond the process. Most chose their name.

I shudder. It had always seemed barbaric really. To pull someones brain clear out of their meninges. And now, it was soon to be my turn.

I look out the small window of my work room. I'm not strong and brave like the Tin men and generals. So I fight the war from here, using my brain.

With my queen

At home.

"Lord Ambrose"  
I start and turn, facing the desk the voice came from "News from the front line!"

I hurry to the H.L.D.C.D. (Holographic Long-Distance Communication Device)

"What news?" I ask, hoping despite the odds for something good.

"Sir" My heart sinks. My scout is pale and shaking visibly. "It's over sir.  
We lost'

"We can't lose! Not unless we give up! How-"

General Lynot. The princess promised him....many things...he-he was greatly intrigued. The city has fallen. There is no one else"

"The resistance fighters" I rally. There's a way, always a way. It's my job to find it.

The scout shook his head "We're locked in the city. We can't get word out to anyone. Except you."

Oh

"Oh." I blink rapidly recovering myself over this latest blow. "There was a camp just to the south of here, if I go now-"

"That won't work sir. That's why I made contact. The sorceress is heading that way sir, to the northern palace. Our spies report- "  
I stop listening and run as fast as I can.

The queen. The sorceress was coming for the queen.

My Queen.

My friend.

I hurry to the garden. I slow to a brisk march as my energy drains. Some with exhaustion , but mostly relief floods me.

She's still there. In the chair by the lake. Where she always sits. She sits by the lake and thinks of things that weigh heavily on her mind.

My own mind is reeling as I give her the news. I wonder how she sits so still, not running. Not panicking. Just sitting there with a melancholy face.

"She'll come after you, Ambrose"

I nod, knowing what she really means.

_Run! Run now!_

"Is there noting you can do, Majesty?"

_Not without you._

"Too late. The darkness is too deeply rooted in her"

_She will hunt you if I come_

"Buy your light; you are the most powerful being in all the O.Z."

_Is all lost, as they say?_

Was, old friend. I gave my light to save someone...My angel."

Angel? That -That's DG!

I look up in surprise. DG's alive?  
Before I can ask anything, I catch movement from the corner of my eye. I stand as Azkadellia and her long-coats approach.

"Show some respect!" I demand, blocking her from the queen.  
If I start now, I can probably have three long-coats down before I'm killed.  
The queen stands, resting her hand on mine, protecting me.

Even now she prefers I not fight.  
Not lay my life down at her feet. Though I would in a heartbeat.

"And take him to the Alchemist. A pair of Long-coats grab me. "If you won't tell me what you know, I'll just have to reach in and take it."

But she won't take my brain out.  
Not yet.  
The witch wants me to know pain first.

Azkadellia had history with me. I showed her how to tie her shoes. I built exquisite toys for her on her birthday. Explained how magic worked to her and DG when all Toto would give them was 'concentrate.'

Azka-d would fight the witch. At least a little.  
But she would lose.  
In the end, she would lose.

She will fight harder for her mother. The queen is relatively safe.  
I worry about her anyway.  
I worry about myself as well

I won't lose my brain just yet.

But eventually.

They won't have any other choice.

I stall and block with everything I can. The most effective is an old nursery rhyme

_The majestic queen of the O.Z.  
Had two lovely daughters she.  
One to darkness, she'll be drawn  
Back to light, she'll be shown  
Double eclipse it is foreseen  
Light and dark and the stillness between  
Neither one shall stand alone  
Both hold the emerald and share the throne  
Should one leave before her time  
Darker shall the two suns shine.  
Until the day of her return._

Azkadellia and the witch fight long after.  
The witch hides her doubts.

**"He is a man of Logic and reason. What would he know of nursery rhymes?"**

"But if he's right"

**"He's not right. I'm right!"**

"He might be right. He is right a lot. He has a really big brain."

_**"Lets see how big a brain he really has"**_

I struggle against my restraints.

But it's futile and I know it. I knew since that day I walked down to the queen in her chair at the palace.

Something hits me from behind and the world starts to swirl. The colors blend together to one bleached white light.

I read in a book once most headcases can retain one memory.

The sunseeder.  
Or DG.

The world goes dark, as will all of the Zone if I make the wrong choice.

I awake feeling groggy. They already administered the Anastasias.

"Count backwards from 100"

I'm in trouble.

"No please don't do this"

I need more time. Time to think, to figure it out.

DG needed time. Time she would lose if I gave up the sunseeder.

But what if she weren't coming back? What if she was completely satisfied with her life in Kansas?  
She wouldn't remember the OZ or any of us. Surely she had a loving family there?

The witch had killed her once, she would do it again. Without question. She would go there herself and destroy all of the Other-side. If I gave up the sunseeder DG was safe If I gave DG over, The O.Z. wouldn't fall as fast

I can't hold my eyes open. They fall closed.  
"Please" I whisper on last time.

Sometime in the black abyss I make my choice.  
I just hope I made the right one.

Let them take the rest

I awake in a cage.

Am I an animal?

What was that? What was that?  
What what what..

I repeated that thought

What thought?

I don't remember.

Am I an animal?  
No.  
Why?  
Oh I'm in a cage.  
Animals live in cages.  
I'm not an animal.  
But I'm in a cage.  
Animals live in cages.  
I'm not an animal.  
So why am I in a cage?  
My head hurts.

Or is it my purple?

No it's called a head.

I made a funny.

I look myself over. I'm alright.  
A few bruises.  
And my coat is scuffed up.

It's a nice coat.  
My coat is scuffed up.

I walk to the bars and try to push them open.  
They stay closed.  
I'm locked in a cage.  
Am I an animal?  
Animal ?

My thought repeated itself Must be a synapse misfire

Do I get that a lot?  
Synapse misfires?

What's a synapse?

_Synapse:A region where nerve impulses are transmitted and received, encompassing the axon terminal of a neuron that releases neurotransmitters in response to an impulse, an extremely small gap across which the neurotransmitters travel, and the adjacent membrane of an axon, dendrite, or muscle or gland cell with the appropriate receptor molecules for picking up the neurotransmitters._

Ah thats a synapse.  
How did I know that?

I try the door again. I tried it before and it was locked. I remember trying the door earlier. Not very long ago. But I don't remember anything from before that.  
Still locked.  
I must be a _dangerous_ animal.  
Is that why DG left?  
I remember DG. But not much else.

"What what what what"

What was going on?  
My synapses misfire again.

"What was going on?"

Someone hits my cage .  
I jump back.

"Not so smart now are you?" Leers the cage hitter.

"I was smart?"

"Not anymore, headcase"

"Headcase?"  
Headcase headcase headcase

_Headcase: A mentally unstable person who acts irrationally or foolishly; an eccentric person. Result of removal of the brain for criminal nature._

I _was_ a terrible dangerous animal!

No wonder DG left!

_A mentally unstable person who acts irrationally or foolishly; an eccentric person. Result of removal of the brain for criminal nature. Trapping subject within own consciousness, erasing any connection or memory to the past_

I can't be a headcase. I remember things.  
I can't remember what I can remember  
But I remember things.

"Zero!"

I'm jolted from my musings as another man comes to my Cage.

"General Lynot." My cage hitter replies to the newcomer.

"There's trouble in the east. A resistance fighter by the name of Cain."

"Nar I know him. Trouble." Zero spits

I blink.

N

Na

Name

Name! They have names. I must have one.  
Have one

Have one

Have one

"What's my name?" I ask the man called Zero.

"Shut it brainless." Zero growls at me and turns to the one named Lynot.

As for Cain, I took care of him already. Two annuals ago."

"Jeb?"

"No Wyatt. Jebs just a kid, how much trouble can he cause? And anyway -"

They walk out arguing, leaving me with whatever thoughts my half-brain can retain.

Wyatt and Jeb. Two more names.  
I must have a name. But what is it?

It'll come to me. But in the meantime I need something to call myself.  
Call myself.  
Call myself.  
I could probably think better if I didn't glitch so much.....


	2. Perspective

Perspective

* * *

So these arent nescisarily suposed to be chapters, but they are all connected so I thought Id link them together

* * *

The witch has the sunseeder. And Ambrose doesn t know why.

Sequel to :Priority: Part two of The Head Case Chronicles

Dedicated to Lord Ambrose

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day in and day out I'm strapped into machines. I have one purpose and one function.

To betray my queen.

I am nobody and nothing. A portion of a once great brain now just another cog for the witches twisted sunseeder.

Which made me Livid.

What tiny little scrap of information was so important that I would wholly surrender the plans for the sunseeder and destroy the kingdom?  
What deep dark secret was more important than keeping the realms safe?

I marinate in my jar and fume.  
I really did think better of myself than to keep some selfish little secret at the cost of the whole O.Z.

If I ever got contact with myself Id-

(Hello?)

Hello? Who s there?

I m being attached to another brain. No a portion of a brain. My brain.

(Hi I m Glitch well I m you but you remember my name. )

Its Ambrose.

"Glitch I need you to remember something for me. Glitch can you hear me?"

"My name isn't Glitch, its Ambrose." Who was that?

(That s Cain)

From a quick shot of dopamine and memory from 'Glitch' I understand Cain to be a friend

(Listen Uhh Ambrose, we need to shut down the sunseeder.)

Oh NOW you want to shut down the sunseeder?!?

(Yes, please)

I cant believe this! You know if you wanted to shut down the sunseeder you could have stopped it being built in the first place!

(No I couldn t.)

No? You designed it, drew up the plans! You and you alone knew about it, is that true?

(Well yes but-)

But what Glitch, WHAT?

(There was something more important)

YOU'RE GOING TO STAND THERE AND TELL ME SOMETHING MORE WAS AT STAKE? MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR COUNTRY? YOUR HOME? YOUR QUEEN? Tell me Glitch, WHAT was SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU-

(DG)

Wh-what?

(DG. She s alive. The queen lost everything to bring her back. She s all grown up now. And she s so much like her mother too. She s gone to stop Azka-D now. That s why we need to shut down the sunseeder.)

DG? The queen never told me...

(She was trying to protect us.)

That sounded like my queen. I give them the numbers. I can feel the machine shutting down around me.

"And the last number, to reverse Light pulsing sequences is-"

(Ambrose stop! Its long coats!)

What? How?

(I don t know, but don t give them the numbers!)

I try. I really try. But the long coats aren't as polite as Glitch instead of asking, they simply take them.

Glitch! you have to do something!

(What?)

I I don t know!

There s a way, always a way. It's my job to find it.

"2025" Glitch cries out desperately.

Pain receptors go off.

(Ambrose help! Don t give them the number!)

I m trying Glitch

(I m sorry I gave up the Sunseeder)

Its okay Glitch, at least DG is safe.

Well was.

This is it, the end

Glitch? I want you to know I-Glitch?

And he s gone. Just like that I m alone again.

I wait wondering anxiously. What was going on out there? Where has the rest of me gone?

(Ambrose!)

And just like that, he s back.

Glitch!

(The long coats are gone, and we just need the last number.)

I don t know it.

(What?)

Its only for shutdown sequence, The witch didn't need it. You must remember it Glitch.

At which point he begins to panic.

"I cant think, I cant think!"

Come on Glitch, you can!

(No I cant Ambrose I m nothing without you!)

That s not true Glitch! You found DG. You got here!

"I know what to do"  
Cain has a decidedly apologetic note in his voice "If you can't remember the last number Ill have to shut it down manually."

(Ambrose! You have to know the number! Cain he he s going to kill you!)

That would shut the machine right down!

(But-)

No Glitch its the only way. The queen may yet live to see her next birthday.

(Birthday? Birthday Ambrose you re a genius!)

"1208! 1028 the queens birthday of course!" Glitch screams "Commence the reverse pulsing!"

I chuckle as best I can. Excitable little thing, my Glitch.

Well done Glitch.

(I couldn't have done it without you)

Yes you could. I reply, refraining to mention that he actually did

(I m going to check on DG but Ill be back, okay?)

I sit in my jello, pride flooding my every neuron.

Turns out I m a pretty good guy after all.


	3. Release

Release

Sequel to : Perspective : and part three of The Head Case Chronicles

A conversation between Ambrose and Glitch in which he distinguishes his past from his present and comes to terms with his future.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Ambrose? It s me again, Glitch)

Hello Glitch. It s been a while.

(There was umm a lot to sort out. The queen says 'Hi'. And so does DG. She doesn't really remember you, exactly.)

No the princess was so young-

(DG, she asked us to call her DG until she acclimates)

That s not all you came to tell me, Glitch.

(How did you-)

I can read your mind. I am your mind.

(Oh..... right.)

What s wrong, why are you so upset?

(I-I-I-I-I)

Hence the name Glitch, I see. Out with it, whats got you so worked up?

(I asked the queen. They can't put you back. I'm sorry Ambrose. The rest of your short existence will be in that jar.)

I had guessed as much.

(You re deteriorating, you're dieing slowly and eventually painfully. I told them to put you back in anyway-)

But that would only kill you!

(This is killing me! You are me, Ambrose. I'm dieing either way.)

No, that s not true. You are Glitch. You're your own person.

(I'm an extension of you-)

No. No your not. I'm just part of a brain. You're so much more. You are a good friend, a brave and generous person and a talented dancer.

(But you're so smart.)

And so are you. Listen to me, I'm a top adviser. I advise you to live your life, even if it is without me.

(But-)

Just promise me, you'll look after the queen and DG. I don t worry about Azka-D or Ahamo. She survived the Witch and he was once a Marine.

(.....What's a Marine?)

I have no idea. But he'll be alright. Promise Glitch.

(I promise. I'll do everything I can for them)

I know. That's why I know I can go now. Because you'll be there.

(Wait! Ambrose! People have always looked to you-)

And none of them have ever seen you Glitch. You have so much more to offer the world than I ever thought I could.

(Ambrose I-)

(Ambrose?)

(AMBROSE!) 


	4. Adjustment

Sequel to :Release:  
fourth and final installment of the Head Case Chronicles

_Cain and DG go in search of Glitch, afraid of leaving him alone with his brain gone. Can they help their friend recover from his loss?_

Ok this is first person double up. It's told in the point of view of both DG and Cain

the bold is DG the italic is Cain and underlined is both thinking in unison.

* * *

Also Raw was standing in the room with Glitch, connecting him to Ambrose and he didn't leave after Ambrose died. (in case it looks like he just popped outta nowhere)

* * *

**Looking.**

_Searching._

**High and low.**

_Calling._

**Calling.**

"GLITCH?"

But not finding.

**Coming to the door.**

_Reaching the brain room._

_Hoping he wasn't in there._

**Praying he was anywhere else.**

Knowing that was exactly where he was.

_Grasping the handle._

**Taking a breath.** Pushing silently.

There he was, sitting motionlessly.

_Where I knew he d be._

**Where I wish he wasn't.**

There was Glitch.

**staring at a jar.**

_Examining his brain._

**Crying.**

**Approaching softly.**

_Advancing carefully_.

**Taking his hand comfortingly.**

_Patting his shoulder bracingly_.

"He-he's gone " _Glitch croaks_.

**Looking him over**

_Watching him carefully_

**Checking his eyes**.

_Cold eyes._  
**Sad eyes.**

**So different from him.  
**_Not like Glitch._

**"Glitch, listen. I know this is hard. But it- it s what he wanted."**

_Nodding along. "Yeah he said it himself this was his choice. He wanted to give you a life. Let you live." fumbling the words._

_Glitch rolls his eyes._

**But his mouth twitches.**

A smile.

**A small one, but a smile just the same.**

"Yeah I guess." _He sighs_. "I never really expected to get my marbles back. I guess. I just wanted to know where they were really and... I don t know find out What I'd been like."

**"Not much different."**

"_Almost exactly the same from what the queen says. Far more optimistic than anyone has a right to be."_

_A Wider smile.  
_**A small nod.**  
_A little laugh._  
There s Glitch.

_He turns and walks back out, Raw a little behind_.

**Following right along**.

"You know what Ambrose said when we first found him? He was jealous of me. Because of you guys. He said he never had friends who would throw themselves off cliffs or jump out windows into frozen lakes-"

**Grinning slightly**

_Cringing noticeably._

"Or-or-or Face down an evil witch. All to keep me safe. I said that isn't why you did those things but-Well he was always the smart one so I guess he had a point."

_"Glitch? You re rambling."_

"Oh." **Another laugh**. "Well. I guess the point is my brain decided you three were the best thing that ever happened to me. And if all it cost was one pompous oversized brain, I got the fair end of the trade."

_Leaving the castle._  
Walking outside.  
**Entering the garden.**

_Looking at the suns._

**It ll take time to heal.**  
_It ll be a while before everything settles down.  
_**Glitch begins humming.**

We're going to be alright.

* * *

The end and Im never doing first person double up again.

Links

2 .net/s/5092661/1/Perspective

3 .net/s/5104165/1/Release

4 .net/secure/story/story_?storyid=5352302&chapter=1


End file.
